Deck 24: The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1929-1939

Question 1

A growing anti-business attitude during the first Hundred Days of the New Deal could be detected in which of the following programs?

A) Reconstruction Finance Corporation
B) Federal Securities Act
C) National Industrial Recovery Act
D) Interstate Commerce Commission
E) All of these choices

Answer 1

Federal Securities Act

Question 2

Which of the following did the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 not do?

A) It outlawed closed shops.
B) It guaranteed collective bargaining.
C) It outlawed blacklisting labor "agitators."
D) It set up a board to supervise shop elections.
E) It outlawed spying on unions.

Answer 2

It outlawed closed shops.

Question 3

Which New Deal initiative paid farmers subsidies to take acreage out of production?

A) Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
B) Farm Credit Act
C) Farm Holiday movement
D) McNary-Haugen bill
E) Tennessee Valley Authority Act

Answer 3

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933

Question 4

Which of the following is not one of the characteristics of the stock market in the months leading up to the October 1929 crash?

A) There was a frenzied upsurge in stock prices.
B) The market value of all stocks more than tripled in four years.
C) Stockbrokers lending buyers up to 75 percent of a stock's cost
D) Steep income-tax hikes suddenly cut the flow of money into the market.
E) Investment trusts lured novices into the market

Question 5

Which of the following was not true of the National Industrial Recovery Act?

A) It embodied ideas of industrial self-regulation and business-government cooperation and drew on the idea of trade associations which had been promoted by Herbert Hoover.
B) It was declared unconstitutional.
C) It appropriated $3.3 billion for heavy-duty government public-works programs to provide jobs and stimulate the economy.
D) Under it, major industries drafted codes of "fair competition," setting production limits, prescribing wages and working conditions, and forbidding price cutting.
E) It limited workers' collective bargaining rights.

Question 6

Which of the following agencies was created during the Hoover administration to help failing financial institutions and continued to be active through the New Deal years?

A) Federal Emergency Relief Administration
B) Tennessee Valley Authority
C) Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
D) National Recovery Administration
E) Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Question 7

Which of the following was not an approach that Franklin Roosevelt used during the early years of his administration to fight the depression?

A) business-government cooperation and pump-priming federal spending.
B) subsidized crop reduction.
C) short-term emergency relief for the jobless, provided directly by the federal government if necessary.
D) nationalization of the railroads and steel industry.
E) public works projects to provide jobs and stimulate the economy.

Question 8

The Civilian Conservation Corps

A) put five million young men and women to work in camps across the country.
B) was a conservative political youth club.
C) employed jobless young men in rural projects such as reforestation, park maintenance, and erosion control.
D) brought together business leaders to draft codes of fair competition.
E) was the precursor to the National Guard.

Question 9

Which of the following steps did Herbert Hoover not take to revive the economy after the stock-market crash?

A) He advised municipal and state governments to create jobs through public-works projects.
B) He set up the Emergency Committee for Employment to coordinate the efforts of voluntary relief agencies.
C) He persuaded Congress to pass the National Industrial Recovery Act, which embodied ideas of industrial self-regulation and business-government cooperation.
D) He persuaded Congress to establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make loans to banks and other lending institutions.
E) He urged business leaders to maintain wages and employment.

Question 10

Huey Long proposed

A) a 100% tax on all incomes over $1 million and appropriation of all fortunes over $5 million.
B) cutting taxes and federal spending to stimulate the economy.
C) nationalizing banks and industry.
D) a national sales tax that would raise revenue to pay down the deficit.
E) stimulating the economy by having the government an interstate highway system.

Question 11

Who were the 1932 "bonus marchers"?

A) World War I veterans who marched on Washington to lobby for immediate cash payments of their veterans' bonuses.
B) Farmers who threatened to dump milk and other agricultural products if they did not receive a government bonus for not producing farm surpluses.
C) Trade unionists who marched on Washington when industrialists refused to pay the bonuses stipulated in union contracts.
D) Federal government workers who objected to losing their Christmas bonus because of the depression.
E) Young people who marched in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Question 12

Which piece of New Deal legislation established the principle of federal responsibility for social welfare and created the basic framework for the welfare system?

A) Wagner Act
B) Revenue Act of 1935
C) Social Security Act
D) Hatch Act
E) Federal Securities Act

Question 13

Which of the following was not one of Roosevelt's immediate responses to the banking crisis?

A) He proposed the Emergency Banking Act.
B) He declared a "bank holiday," which closed banks for four days.
C) He nationalized the banks.
D) He set up procedures for managing failed banks.
E) He assured Americans over the radio that they could again entrust their money to banks.

Question 14

How did the American economic crisis affect the European economy?

A) It was unaffected.
B) It was stimulated because European firms were able to take advantage of markets otherwise dominated by American businesses.
C) It also experienced a crisis as world trade declined.
D) It was hurt because it depended so heavily on American agricultural products.
E) It lost market share as American companies used illegal tactics to increase their trade.

Question 15

What environmental disaster struck the nation during the Depression?

A) Locust Infestation
B) Dust Bowl
C) Lower than normal temperatures on the Great Plains
D) Potato famine
E) Global warming

Question 16

What was the radio adaptation of War of the Worlds about?

A) World War I
B) Spanish Civil War
C) Class warfare
D) An alien landing
E) A war between Christian Europe and the Islamic Middle East

Question 17

Which statement best describes Franklin Roosevelt's position concerning the Depression in the 1932 presidential campaign?

A) He clearly outlined specific programs that would end the depression.
B) He called for the United States to abandon the gold standard.
C) He promoted a policy of massive spending by the federal government.
D) He promised to end the depression but offered only vague plans describing how he was going to do it.
E) He claimed the depression was just an economic cycle and would eventually correct itself.

Question 18

What did the 1935 Social Security Act do?

A) It provided workers a job if they were unemployed.
B) It offered financial assistance for the elderly and the disabled.
C) It protected women's rights in the work place.
D) It established housing where the unemployed could stay for free and receive free meals.
E) It guaranteed men the right to work

Question 19

What did Eleanor Roosevelt see as her primary role as First Lady?

A) She wanted to serve as an observer for her husband and promote social reform.
B) She wanted to be a gracious hostess for the many dignitaries who visited the White House.
C) She wanted to personally draft legislation and forge foreign policy.
D) She wanted to promote an appreciation of the arts.
E) She wanted to support her husband and be a light presence at social functions.

Question 20

How did the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) influence the labor movement?

A) It guaranteed collective-bargaining rights.
B) It permitted closed shops.
C) It outlawed the practice of blacklisting union leaders.
D) It created the National Labor Relations Board.
E) All of these choices

Question 21

Which statement best represents the economic status of farm families during the 1930s?

A) Because farm families were property owners, they suffered less than other segments of society during the depression.
B) Many farm families gave up because of debt and the drought.
C) In rural America, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and the abandonment of farms were rare because communities stuck together.
D) Three-fourths of the farms folded during the depression.
E) Because of the swift implementation of New Deal reforms, farm families prospered from 1933 onward.

Question 22

Which of the following examples of New Deal legislation is correctly paired with what its purpose?

A) National Youth Administration: Launched a federal-state program of workers' pensions, unemployment insurance, and other welfare benefits.
B) Fair Labor Standards Act: Banned child labor and set a national minimum wage.
C) Federal Securities Exchange Act: Raised taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
D) National Housing Act: Halted sale of tribal lands and enabled tribes to regain unallocated lands.
E) Public Utilities Holding Company Act: Guaranteed unions' collective-bargaining rights and outlawed anti-union practices.

Question 23

Which of the following companies bitterly resisted unionization in the 1930s?

A) General Motors
B) U.S. Steel
C) Ford Motor Company
D) Pennsylvania Railroad
E) Exxon

Question 24

What happened to Roosevelt's "court-packing" plan?

A) Congress, including New Deal supporters and many conservatives, approved of it because they felt it was time for a change.
B) The American people rejected it in a referendum.
C) He had to drop it but was nevertheless able to replace four members of the Supreme Court who died or retired.
D) It turned out to be one of Roosevelt's greatest triumphs.
E) It was the issue that enabled the Republicans to retake control of the Senate in the 1938 election.

Question 25

What feature of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 established the basic framework of federal agricultural policy for decades to come?

A) The government provided subsidies to producers of major farm commodities in return for cutting production.
B) In order to boost agricultural production the government made loans to farmers to invest in more land, machinery, and labor.
C) In years of big harvests and low prices, the government would make loans to farmers and store their surplus crops in government warehouses.
D) The government encouraged the survival of the family farm by withholding aid to agribusiness.
E) Farm workers were now covered by collective bargaining and minimum wage laws.

Question 26

How did U.S. Steel in 1937 respond to the newly formed Steel Workers' Organizing Committee?

A) It lived up to its reputation as "the crouching lion in the pathway of labor" and crushed the new union.
B) It countered with the establishment of a company-sponsored employee association.
C) It recognized the union, granted a wage increase, and agreed to a forty-hour week.
D) It engaged in a protracted dispute with the union which included a major strike over union recognition.
E) It closed down the union and drove the socialists and agitators off the property.

Question 27

Which of the following is an accurate statement about unemployment during the New Deal?

A) It never fell below 75 percent.
B) As late as 1939 more than 17 percent of the labor force remained jobless.
C) New Deal social and economic programs virtually eliminated unemployment for the first time in American history.
D) The jobless rate crept steadily upward from 1932 until 1945.
E) It never exceeded 7.5% even though politicians exaggerated the crisis for their own benefit.

Question 28

The Scottsboro Boys were

A) African-American teenagers sentenced to death by an all-white jury on highly suspect rape charges.
B) a major swing band of the 1930s.
C) the leaders in the U.S. Steel strike.
D) undocumented immigrants who the United States deported.
E) young CCC veterans who led the campaign for Roosevelt's reelection in 1936.

Question 29

What groups were the Farm Security Administration designed to benefit?

A) Tenant farmers and sharecroppers
B) African-Americans
C) Women
D) Organized labor
E) Mexican-American immigrants

Question 30

What did John Steinbeck describe in The Grapes of Wrath?

A) He described the horrors of working in the California vineyards.
B) He described the challenges of industrial labor in the 1930s.
C) He described the rise of the middle class despite the opposition of large corporations.
D) He described the collapse of a capitalist society.
E) He described the desperate struggles of an uprooted dust-bowl family.

Question 31

Which New Deal legislation banned child labor, established a minimum wage, and set maximum hours for the work week?

A) Fair Labor Standards Act
B) National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
C) Hatch Act
D) National Industrial Recovery Act
E) Social Security Act

Question 32

Benny Goodman was noteworthy because he

A) created an integrated jazz orchestra that performed at Carnegie Hall.
B) developed be-bob and released the first million-seller record.
C) won a Pulitzer Prize for A Farewell to Arms.
D) was the lead engineer for building the Hoover Dam.
E) served as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's vice president for his first three terms.

Question 33

Which statement best expresses the mobility of African-Americans during the 1930s?

A) African-Americans poured into northern cities in a "great migration" in search of employment.
B) African-Americans poured into southern cities in record numbers in search of employment.
C) The depression slowed down the migration of African-Americans northward.
D) African-Americans reversed their previous migrations to northern cities, and returned to southern farms where there were greater opportunities for survival.
E) The depression made little difference because the majority of African-Americans had migrated to northern cities earlier in the century.

Question 34

Which of the following pieces of legislation was an attempt at campaign reform in the late 1930s?

A) Pendleton Act
B) McCain Act
C) Hatch Act
D) Kennedy Act
E) Eggleston Act

Question 35

Which statement best describes union membership in the 1930s?

A) Unions lost members because unemployed workers would accept low wages and poor working conditions to get a job.
B) Unions gained membership, growing from only 3 million in 1933 to over 8 million in 1941.
C) Union membership held steady at approximately 5 million members throughout the 1930s.
D) Unions gained members because a big effort was made to organize low-wage workers including agricultural laborers, and department-store clerks.
E) Union membership surged and soon 75% of American workers were unionized.

Question 36

Which of the following was not true concerning the election of 1936?

A) The Republicans candidate was an earnest but inept campaigner.
B) Roosevelt beat Alfred Landon in the most crushing victory since 1820.
C) Third-party candidates siphoned off an alarming number of Democratic votes.
D) The Democrats increased their majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
E) Roosevelt won the support of farmers, union members, blacks, and women.

Question 37

Which of the following statements is not true about the New Deal?

A) The New Deal brought about full economic recovery, and by 1939 unemployment was no longer a serious problem.
B) The New Deal vastly increased the power and prestige of the presidency.
C) The New Deal assumed a fundamental governmental responsibility to promote economic prosperity and the well-being of all citizens.
D) As the New Deal evolved, it acted as a broker for all organized interest groups-including agriculture and labor, not just business.
E) In the course of the New Deal, a fundamental political realignment took place.

Question 38

Which group faced appalling labor conditions in California's agricultural regions?

A) Native Americans
B) African-Americans
C) Asian-Americans
D) Mexican-Americans
E) German Americans

Question 39

What was the purpose of the National Resources Planning Board?

A) It facilitated the federal government's programs to protect national forests.
B) It facilitated state and regional management of water, soil, timber, and minerals.
C) It facilitated the storage of supplies in case there was a world war.
D) It facilitated local construction of vital railways and roads.
E) It facilitated the development of federal, state, and local mining controls.

Question 40

The Committee for Industrial Organization was established

A) to organize skilled workers.
B) by industrialists to undermine the power of labor unions.
C) by President Roosevelt as one of his "alphabet agencies" to address economic problems.
D) to bring workers for "Little Steel" into the collective-bargaining cycle.
E) to organize all workers in a particular industry, regardless of race, gender, or degree of skill.

Question 41

Which of the following was not a popular pastime during the depression?

A) Going to the movies
B) Watching television
C) Reading novels
D) Listening to the radio
E) Listening to "swing" music

Question 42

What vision of the future did the Futurama exhibit at the New York World's Fair of 1939 feature?

A) Space travel
B) An automated home
C) Air travel to even the smallest towns
D) A model city crisscrossed by light-rail mass transit lines
E) A complex interstate highway network of the future.

Question 43

Which writer captured the political idealism of the Spanish Civil War in a novel?

A) John Steinbeck
B) William Faulkner
C) James T. Farrell
D) Thornton Wilder
E) Ernest Hemingway

Question 44

Which of the following was not an example of the affirmative cultural nationalism characteristic of the late 1930s?

A) George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
B) Aaron Copland's Billy the Kid
C) John Dos Passos's The 42nd Parallel.
D) Thomas Hart Benton' paintings
E) James Agee's photojournalism

Question 45

What type of entertainment did the Frank Capra films Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington provide?

A) They were comedies that lampooned New Deal policies.
B) They were patriotic and idealistic portrayals of the triumph of "the people" over entrenched interests.
C) They were realistic docudramas about social problems.
D) They were gangster movies showing gritty images of urban America.
E) They were zany musicals that offered viewers a chance to forget the depression.